Mohamed Massaquoi made a leaping grab in the corner of the end zone on a 14-yard pass from Colt McCoy with 43 seconds to play to lift the host Cleveland Browns to a 17-16 win over the Miami Dolphins on Sunday.
The Browns trailed throughout most of the contest, but Miami’s inability to cash in from the red zone left the door open for McCoy, who led Cleveland (2-1) on an 80-yard game-winning drive.
Cleveland played without running back Peyton Hillis, who was a late scratch with a strep throat. Hillis, the focus of Cleveland’s rushing game, was sent home with a high fever and some reports say he could miss three weeks.
Montario Hardesty replaced Hillis and gained 67 yards on 14 carries and also caught a crucial pass for a first down on the final drive.
The Dolphins (0-3) possessed the ball for nearly 38 minutes and Chad Henne completed 15 of his first 17 passes. He finished 19 for 29 for 255 yards.
Miami got the ball back in Cleveland territory following the Massaqoui touchdown, but threw three straight incompletions before getting intercepted on a 4th-and-10 play with 13 seconds left.
Henne opened the scoring by completing a 10-yard pass to rookie Daniel Thomas in the first quarter.
The Browns tied the game when McCoy found Josh Cribbs in the end zone from 33 yards out. Cribbs made a leaping grab for the score.
Miami | Cleveland | |
Daniel Thomas | Player | Montario Hardesty |
23 | Attempts | 14 |
95 | Yards | 67 |
4.1 | Avg Yards | 4.8 |
0 | Touchdowns | 0 |
9 | Long | 19 |
Miami | Cleveland | |
Brian Hartline | Player | Benjamin Watson |
4 | Receptions | 5 |
87 | Yards | 64 |
21.8 | Avg Yards | 12.8 |
0 | Touchdowns | 0 |
38 | Long | 17 |
Yards | Scoring | Defense | ||||||
Team | Tot | Rus | Pas | TD | FG | INT | Sck | FF |
Miami | 369 | 138 | 231 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 0.0 | 0 |
Cleveland | 280 | 70 | 210 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5.0 | 1 |